Good card to use as daily driver?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I started slowly by getting a secured card from Citi a little over a year ago that hopefully will graduate in June. As of today, I also have an Amex EveryDay and an Amex SPG. I would like to get another card (preferably Visa/Mastercard, and ideally with Citi to simplify things) that I can use as a daily driver in order to concentrate the rewards instead of having spread across different systems. I was thinking of using the SPG as the "daily go-to" card, but seeing how the SPG points will be phased out next year and nobody knows what it will happen I don't know if I should start investing in them other than to get the welcome bonus and the perks that the card offers.

Apart from the Citi DC (the fact of getting 2% and forgetting about points and rewards sounds relaxing), I was also looking into the Citi Thankyou Premier. Why isn't it more popular? The No Transaction Fees perk is also. really appealing considering I always leave the country 2-3 times a year. Also, with my scores could I get the DC or the Premier (or any other suggestion you may have would be greatly appreciated)?

Thanks!

Data points:

EX - 736 - 7 inquires

EQ - 758 - 2 inquiries

TU - 761 - 2 inquiries

[Anonymous]

With your scores you could get either. The DC is as simple of a daily driver as you could get. 2% on all purchases is decent and redemption is easy. The reason I think the premier isn't as popular is because it is similar to the Chase Sapphire Preferred and UR points are worth more than ThankYou points in my opinion.

[NRB525]

OP your scores look good. 

Have you tried the Citi Card finder? If you get offered a single APR number, not a range of APR that is a good sign. 

[Anonymous]

According to the Citi for pre-approvals nothing shows up (other than the "but we have found the following cards that may interest you"). Worth mentioning that applied for the DC in August (denied) and October (denied) because of my AAoE apparently (as of right now is sitting at 10 months). That's when I decided to go the Amex route.

[Anonymous]

SPG is a great daily driver. I’d use this card, plus a 2% cashback visa if they don’t take Amex. Regardless of what happens to the SPG Amex in the future your SPG points will transfer to Marriott at a 1:3 ratio. So, you’ll be earning at least 3 Marriott points per dollar on all SPG Amex spend. Personally, I value SPG points higher than 2%, but again depends on your ultimate goals.

[Anonymous]

I'm becoming more and more fond of my recently-upgraded Amex ECP as my daily driver: 6% groceries and 3% gas-store purchases (Cumberland Farms coffee!) is easy to take (despite the $95 AF).

[MrDisco99]

I have a Citi TY Premier and I actually think it's a decent card for collecting points for free travel.  As a one-card-for-everything, though, I'd say it can be a bit limited.  The rewards program is not as good as Chase or Amex.  Transfer partners are limited (no big American domestic airline) and while points are worth 1.25 cents on the travel portal, availability of some flights via the portal can be limited.  Otherwise the points are pretty much worthless.  As for earning, 3x on travel including gas is pretty good and 2x on dining and entertainment is OK, though not as good as some cash back cards.  1x on non-category purchases is a raw deal when you have 2% cards with no annual fee.

Really it depends on what you spend money on and whether travel rewards on travel spend are worth it to you.  Figure out your potential earning vs. a flat 2% cash back card and don't forget to subtract the annual fee.

I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want to keep the TY Premier.  There are some transfer partners that overlap with my Amex partners so the points do have potential value for me, though maybe not as much as my other point schemes or cash back.  I don't mind spreading my rewards and optimizing spend over multiple cards, but I do feel like I need to narrow it down a bit from where I am, if only to drop some annual fees.  My TY Premier isn't high on my list of cards to cull, but it isn't low either.

My Citi DC card, on the other hand, is one of my favorites.  It pretty much never leaves my wallet.  It doesn't get much use right now, since I'm working on minimum bonus spend for some other cards, but even while doing that I've found myself having to use it where Amex isn't accepted.  Flat 2% on everything is a decent earning rate and the fact that it's cash back means I can use it any way I like.  That kind of flexibility makes it more valuable than some of my cards with annual fees.  If I had to do away with all my cards except one, it would be a very hard choice, but my DC would be a finalist for sure.

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

According to the Citi for pre-approvals nothing shows up (other than the "but we have found the following cards that may interest you"). Worth mentioning that applied for the DC in August (denied) and October (denied) because of my AAoE apparently (as of right now is sitting at 10 months). That's when I decided to go the Amex route.

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Ok, then best to hold off all apping for at least six months, or more. I would suggest that until you see single APR offers on that Citi tool, no more apps. You have good cards to work with for now. SP CLI from AMEX are something to check for.

As noted, your SPG points are useful. Transfer partners everywhere (except Hilton, IHG, Hyatt but no biggie). 

[Anonymous]

Would a Discover be right for you? If a simple, straight-forward 2% daily driver is something you'd like and can't get the Citi DC just yet, then Discover is worth looking into. It's 2% for the first year (though 1% of that won't come until the year is up), and by that point, you should easily be in good shape for the Citi DC. Also, the 5% rotating categories are nice this year, so you'd effectively be getting 10% back on many purchases.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Would a Discover be right for you? If a simple, straight-forward 2% daily driver is something you'd like and can't get the Citi DC just yet, then Discover is worth looking into. It's 2% for the first year (though 1% of that won't come until the year is up), and by that point, you should easily be in good shape for the Citi DC. Also, the 5% rotating categories are nice this year, so you'd effectively be getting 10% back on many purchases.

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Discover IT Miles is a 3% cashback card the first year (1.5% right away, 1.5% match after a year).  No annual fee.  I think this is one of the best daily drivers for the first year, plus Discover has an excellent growth policy since you can app for the 5% category card next year and merge the limit in from the 1.5/3% card into the 5% one.  That 5% card is actually a 2% general/10% category card for a year, too.